1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laminated orthopedic brace and, more particularly, to a laminated orthopedic made from a unique blend of material that provides heat retention, compression with breathability, and wicking of perspiration away from the skin to dry the skin area quickly.
2. Background Description
A wide variety of externally applied elastic supports and rigid, joint-immobilizing braces are known to protect healthy and injured joints and to promote healing of certain injuries. Supports and braces are commonly used for injuries and other medical problems at the knee, thighs, elbow, waist, wrist and back. Common injuries that can be helped by a support include strained or torn ligaments, tendentious, arthritis, and pulled or strained muscles.
Plastic or "soft" supports are usually preferred over braces where the body part is generally healthy and the intent is to support it in order to prevent injury of a joint and surrounding tissue. Soft supports are also used to protect and promote the healing of injured members where there are no broken bones and the patient is mobile. A support may be worn, for example, before engaging in work or a sports activity that is expected to involve unusual stretching or load bearing. The elasticity of the support is important not only to provide supporting externally applied compression, but also to maintain the support in a selected position on the body. Ideally the support is constructed so that it flexes easily and interferes as little as possible with the normal range of motion of the body part. The elasticity of the support also accommodates changes in the size of the body part produced by physical exertion, changes in the condition of an injury (e.g., a reduction in swelling), or mere changes in the elevation of the body part, e.g., when an injured ankle is elevated.
The most common form of elastic support is a simple tubular sleeve of a stretch fabric such as the stretch nylon material used in ACE brand bandages and supports. Such a sleeve is pulled over and grips the body part to be protected as well as adjoining regions. When used on joints, the major problems are chafing and biting of the fabric during flexing, particularly at the interior of a joint such as the back of a knee or the "inside" of an elbow. Flexures of body parts and changes in body size can also result in a migration of the position of the support on the body.
Currently available supports do not provide the breathability necessary to prevent perspiration from forming where the support and skin are in contact and also have designs such that there is a seam located against the skin or behind the back of the knee that causes pinching or biting on the skin or behind the knee. In addition, current supports lack the sufficiency utilization around the patella and sufficient flexibility in attaching the support to the knee.